Electronic Waste Management and Treatment

1842 Words8 Pages

Introduction:
One of the fastest growing solid waste in USA and the world is used electronic equipment. With everyday growth in electronic technology and its wide use in the industry, our everyday life gets easier. This day to day use of technological equipment like cell phones, GPS, CRT or even batteries has made our lives very dependent on the need for fast growth of technology and new designs. These new designs and the fast growth is the cause of early obsolescence for electronic devices. Usually Excess of electronic devices is shuffled together, and is called E-waste by the EPA and some public environmental agencies.
Electronic waste has become a major problem in many developed countries and has a huge environmental impact now and in the future. CRTs (cathode ray tube) are amongst the toughest kinds of E-waste to recycle. Regulation and laws in regard of solid and hazardous wastes are applied under the supervision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (1).
(Photo from Google Image)
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declares that almost two percent of solid waste stream in US is E-waste (3). This may be a small percentage of the total solid waste stream for now, but the fast growth of electronic industry and a drop in the price of consumer electronics with new technologies has to be counted for the future. This E-waste represents a major percentage of the nation's hazardous waste. Electronic devices contain many different hazardous materials like: Lead, mercury, cadmium and brominated flame-retardants. Inappropriate methods for handling the discarded electronics can release hazardous chemicals which can affect human health and the environment. For controlling the E-waste problem we should k...
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3- ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT, DIVISION OF COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL AND WASTE ENFORCEMENT, Electronic Waste Management Rules
Proposed Amendments: N.J.A.C. 7:26-2.8(s), N.J.A.C. 7:26A-1.1, and 1.3
Proposed New Rules: N.J.A.C. 7:26A-13
Authorized By: Bob Martin, Commissioner
Department of Environmental Protection
4- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste
5- http://www.prlog.org/11708649-5-stages-of-the-plastic-recycling-process.html
6- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_recycling
7- http://www.all-recycling-facts.com/glass-recycle.html
8- http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/RecyclingMetal.php
9-http://www.iowadnr.gov/Environment/LandStewardship/WasteManagement/Recycling/Ewaste/HazardsofEwaste.aspx

Recycling is one of the waste treatment methods for which due to value of the material or environmental perspective, the old material (waste) changes to new and usable products. Few materials that can be recycled are: glass, paper, metal, plastic, textiles, and electronics. Few of these will be discussed since Electronic waste contains glass, metal and plastic.
Glass recycling:
The process of making new and usable products from waste glass. “Every metric ton (1,000 kg) of waste glass recycled into

E-waste Treatment Systems:
Due to hazardous chemicals and elements in electronic waste the process of landfilling and incineration for the waste becomes very problematic because of the environmental issues that it contains. This is the reason behind E-waste treatment and the systems related to that.
So for treatment of E-waste there are different level approaches which are: first is decontamination/ dismantling, this step consists of reducing the concentration of these hazardous chemicals and elements

history, all the waste generated by people, which composition was totally organic, was left on the ground where it was decomposed with time. Moreover, the population was small and everything was repaired and reused. As people began to produce items for their comfort and build houses, the population grew and cities burgeoned. According to National Waste & Recycling Association (2012), as population grew, waste production increased, and consequently emerging the necessity to develop waste disposal systems

production. Now the scale of electronics market becomes wider and spins up day by day with a cyclic launch of new electronic appliances with enhanced features. “According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), consumers were expected to purchase 500 million units of consumer electronics in the US in 2008.” (Electronics Takeback coalition, 2010) Consequently, a clear tendency toward rapid substitution of electronic appliances can be observed. A high rate in electronics upgrading shortens their

technology and innovations. Everyday electronic equipment becomes obsolete because of an enormous stream of new and upgraded ones. It is an unstoppable process termed as progress, when new gadgets evolve and develop, old electronic appliances become useless and out of date. However, as modern technology develops and extends the amount of obsolete and discarded electronic equipment also known as e-waste (e-scrap) increases. According to BBC, today electronic waste shows the highest growing trend in

recognize that wastes can lead Earth to be unavailable for all lives because of toxic gas from wastes. In each day, tons of wastes are create, and they are disposed with vary disposal methods. Unfortunately, current disposal methods have limitations; landfill and incineration create harmful chemicals that pollute Earth. Even if people live only with necessity of life, wastes are still created and they needed to be disposed. Even though current waste disposal methods solve problems caused by wastes, they create

“In recent years, legislatures across the world have turned their attention to the escalating amount of electronic and electrical waste, and their accompanying environmental threats. Increasing consumption of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) and the indiscriminate disposal of used products contribute to the problem furthered by designs that ignore durability and support the limitless use of toxic substances. One proposed method of changing this trend is to stimulate producers to design for

of our outdated electronics are being recycled which seems to be a good thing, but what most people do not know, is that most of this “recycle” is being disposed of irresponsibly. This hazardous electronic waste is called e-waste. Our old electronics are being sent to developing countries to extract the valuable materials from them, but it is being done in a way that is damaging the environment and people who work, play, and live there. Something has to be done about the e-waste problem! So we, as